Story time was unusual with so many plugs worked in between Nabila’s water brands and Sean’s employer.

Without naming Ryan, Alex mentioned the champ from “a few weeks ago” who was from one of the stumper areas in PORT-MAP-TEAU.

The FJ! clue went 0/3 with the contestants and I cannot help the percentage. I knew not to copy Nabila’s guess while from there I was up a creek with nothing else in the guesstuary. With my words in the Education thread fresh about guessing something-anything I did not want to so soon leave a blank page. I scribbled Reincarnation to beat the clock.

The Archive shows there have been enough uses of the work for it to have gone past me multiple times, though without it sticking. Where was this clue when Michael Rooney could have used it?

The DD3 wager was 6000+3000 in a second box clue. If Quin goes all in then that greatly changes the wagering scenario for the FJ! round. Not that Sean is complaining about how things went down.

The game had a couple more sports-related clues with mascot Bobcat’s baseball team and WWE’s co-founder. Sean got one and the other one went TS.

Sometimes it helps to remember the category: ENTERTAINE”D”. I did not know it, but figured out which team to guess since I always start recalling teams with the NL West.

Yay for Quin calling out some picks in PIRATES! while using an argh-cent. In one way I’m glad Quin lost since his name alone has put a Manfred Mann song in my head.

It's a rather academic FJ question. I got it immediately, but I can see where somebody without much exposure to the names of Plato's works might have a problem. (Sean clearly has some exposure to Plato given his answer of the cave, but that's an analogy within The Republic, and not a separate dialogue.)

If you've heard of The Apology, it's possible to tease it out (if you know what apologetics is, or some related word suggesting that apology is not saying sorry, but an explanation). If you've never heard of it, it's probably not something you'd get.

It's a rather academic FJ question. I got it immediately, but I can see where somebody without much exposure to the names of Plato's works might have a problem. (Sean clearly has some exposure to Plato given his answer of the cave, but that's an analogy within The Republic, and not a separate dialogue.)

If you've heard of The Apology, it's possible to tease it out (if you know what apologetics is, or some related word suggesting that apology is not saying sorry, but an explanation). If you've never heard of it, it's probably not something you'd get.

Thanks for the reminder to check on Sean's response. An Archive search of "plato cave" has two results:
#6344, aired 2012-03-29 PHILOSOPHICAL METAPHORS $400: Plato said the world of sense experience is like living in one of these, seeing only shadows of true reality
#3562, aired 2000-02-15 OOH, A WISE GUY $400: Plato compared the unenlightened to people chained up in one of these looking at shadows

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ETA: Congrats on the solve of a clue that will not poll high at the end of the week.

It didn't make any difference with respect to my performance since I NHO the correct response, but the "despite the title" TOM was weird since apology is a contronym. It seems to me that the type of apology referred to in the title of the work was "a reasoned argument or writing in justification of something" rather than "a regretful acknowledgment of an offense or failure."

"Despacito" for $2000, spotted the first letter, artists, and English translation? Come on, guys. It was by far the most popular song of 2017, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-tying 16 weeks.

Congrats to Sean for another commanding performance. I figured Quin's best bet was $0, but that's hard to do, psychologically. Still. A $0 bet potentially lets Nabila ahead of him, but it wins on a TS or a double-stumper for Sean and Nabila. And if Sean misses FJ (which has to happen for Quin to win), I think Nabila is more likely to also miss than to get it. So bet for that possibility. $0.

Netflix has been pitching Altered Carbon pretty strong lately. I doubt I'd have gotten it when the show was taped.

That GRAPHICS DD really tripped me up: DESIGNERS WANT IMAGES TO BE CLEAR & HAVE GOOD THIS 10-LETTER WORD, ALSO A FAVORABLE NOVEL OUTCOME. I got stuck on "denouement". Couldn't shake it. It's got 10 letters and everything. Tangentially, I'm not sure that a "resolution" has to mean a favorable outcome. Would the writers want to say that Hamlet lacks a resolution? That's just a quibble, though. The word "favorable" isn't what kept me from getting that DD.

FJ was old school. This is the kind of thing they used to expect you to know 30 years ago. The game was more academic back then. So now I have two in a row that were triple-stumpers for the contestants. I haven't felt this smart since the TOC final.

So "Apologies" is a miss? Helluva WAG attempt!. I tried to think of a potential book title synonymous with unrepentant or recalcitrant and would have used this word if I'd thought of it. I can't say I even knew that the popular wrong answer "Republic" was a Plato work. I should'a guessed "Pirate". My current FJ streak is over at 1 factorial. Or Zero factorial for that matter

Good steady play by Sean, he doesn't go in reverse too much. Given the category, he's lucky that Quin didn't bet zip. But Quin would be right to assume Sean will get it as his knowledge base seems deep and wide. But, I think he should have held on his 12 to the dealer's 4 (blackjack analogy).

- All science is either physics or stamp collecting. - Ernest Rutherford (Winner of Nobel price in CHEMISTRY)-